TakeWorlds4 weeks ago
Tim Wellens says he'll message Philippe Gilbert directly — «I'm going to contact Phil and give him a piece of my mind.» This isn't damage control, it's a counterattack: Wellens accused Gilbert of chasing attention with a «negative narrative», turning a dispute about loyalty into one about motive.
Wellens didn't just defend skipping the Worlds again — he went after how Gilbert said what he said. «Apparently, an analyst gets more attention when he creates a negative narrative,» he told Het Nieuwsblad, contrasting it with Tom Boonen's more positive style on TV. That's a claim about incentives, not opinion — Gilbert's fury, in this reading, is partly a function of his job. The promised message to Gilbert won't settle a policy disagreement anymore; it's set up as a confrontation over conduct.
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